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Jack’s at a great age where he’s learning so much every day plus doing and saying new things at an alarming rate. It’s pretty amazing (and entertaining). I remember being so charmed by my nephew, Mitch, when he was this age (Mitch was the first baby and toddler I could fully appreciate since I was still a kid myself when my other nieces and nephew were born). And of course I remember Liam being like this, but at the time I had a newborn and was slightly distracted and perhaps didn’t appreciate it as much as I can with Jack (the curse of the older child, always the first to do stuff but overshadowed by the younger sibling).

Sure, Jack can be a pill. Oh, can he ever be a pill (for example, in that photo above he’s supposed to be napping but instead he undressed down to his diaper and was jumping in his crib). But he is also a total sweetheart who is so generous (though succinct) with his affection and pretty hilarious almost all the time. I wouldn’t trade any bit of his impish behavior if it meant he had any less personality.

Here are the few of the things I’ve appreciated or found hilarious about Jack lately – gotta throw a little love his way since Liam’s been getting all the glory with his new kindergarten gig.*

• Just last night I noticed the light was on in his bedroom and I opened the door to find him looking at a book and he smiled at me sweetly and asked, “Wanna rock a bye?” So I turned off his light and picked him up and to give him a cuddle and sing “Rock-a-bye Baby.” Because I am a sucker for that boy.
• I’ve been trying to teach him his middle name so now when you ask him what his name is, he says: “Jack. I, Jack Bennett [insert middle name here]!”
• And when you ask how old he is, he responds quickly with “Two-n-a-haf”
• We were reading a book in his room and her very seriously told me, “There’s a problem in my room.” Then he pointed at the flashing numbers on his clock that we hadn’t reset since the power went out over the weekend.
• He’s recently become convinced he sees squirrels, spiders and bunnies on the floor in his room, in his crib and in his seat at the kitchen table. He tells me they scratch and bite him and very seriously points out where he got hurt (which is always just normal looking skin). We’ll pretend this isn’t a problem until he is doing this as a teenager.
• When I say goodbye or goodnight he has a routine he asks for that includes: a hug, a big hug (he switches which shoulder he’s putting his head on and grunts for emphasis), a lip kiss, an eskimo kiss and a butterfly kiss.
• He’s quite certain he knows what music he likes and doesn’t like and will call out from the backseat of the car when he disapproves of what is on the radio.
• We resorted to giving him an eighth of a teaspoon of vinegar to get him to stop saying nasty words (he was unphased by soap) and he’s mostly stopped that particular brand of bad behavior but now whenever you look at him sharply, he quickly says, ” I no want bin-a-ger!”

I just love this age. It is an age of wonderment and it is wonderful!

*Speaking of new gigs, my first post is up over at Kids on the Grand – stop by and check it out.